UnitedMasters' free DEBUT era ends today — after Oct. 28, its records are deleted
The one-year grace period for legacy DEBUT artists closes October 28, 2026: upgrade to a paid plan and taken-down releases reinstate automatically; miss it, and the distributor says it will permanently delete its records.
RouteNote Radar reported on October 26 that UnitedMasters users on the old, free DEBUT plan face their final deadline today, October 28, 2026. In October 2025 the company ended distribution for DEBUT accounts — to music services like Spotify and Apple Music, and to Instagram and TikTok alike — and queued existing DEBUT releases for takedown from October 29, 2025. A paid DEBUT+ or SELECT membership has been required to distribute ever since.
UnitedMasters' own support guidance set a one-year grace period, until October 28, 2026, during which upgrading to DEBUT+ or SELECT reinstates taken-down releases automatically, usually in about a day. After the grace period, the company says it will permanently delete its records of the affected music and will no longer be able to automatically redistribute it — an artist who wants the catalogue back would need to re-upload the content entirely. Accounts, Wallet access and royalty splits remain; royalties keep accruing while music stays distributed, and delayed reports can still pay out two to three months after a takedown.
For artists who have not decided, the practical move is to keep their own archive — masters, artwork, ISRCs, UPCs and royalty statements — rather than rely on the distributor holding the only copies.
From the crate: UnitedMasters, ending a free lane is your call — but permanently deleting the records that let artists return turns a deadline into a door closing for good. Keep the archive reachable, and the catalogue built on DEBUT can still find its way back.
Source: RouteNote Radar · October 26, 2026. Summarised by Vera Ríos for the Pangea+ desk, in our own words — a pen name; the numbers aren't.